


'Til the end of the world

by Glump



Category: Preacher (Comics), Preacher (TV)
Genre: Domestic, F/M, Fluff, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Polyamory, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 05:03:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16111382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glump/pseuds/Glump





	'Til the end of the world

“’Til the end of the world, right?”, she asks, voice soft and tired and still coated in her nightmares.  
She asks every morning lately, ever since the nightmares started. She needs his reassurance, needs his reply to remember that he’s still here, still with her.  
Sometimes he doesn’t answer, breathing silently. Sometimes he just nods or replies by pulling her close to his heart.  
Today he answers. He says “Of course.”, and yawns. His hands curl into fists, he reaches his arms above his body and stretches.  
She somehow loves him most in the mornings, when he’s just hers. Soon enough they have to get up and face a world of problems and fights and don’t get her wrong, she enjoys that, too. But she feels closer to him like this, sleep heavy on their bodies and problems far enough away to ignore. Sometimes she wonders what they’d be like if this wasn’t their life. Sometimes she thinks every moment could be like this, peaceful and calm and so soft around the edges.  
He lets out a sigh, slowly folds back the blanket and sits up a little. He looks at her, can tell from the way her eyes are framed by shadows that she’s had a rough night, and knows exactly what to do.  
“Come here”, he says, his voice enduring in that way it always is, coarse and raw with that touch of accent that makes it so his.  
She’s not a huge cuddler, but she complies, sinks into his arms and then they just sit there for a little while. He kisses her where hair meets forehead.  
“You with me?”, he asks.  
“Yeah. Just, you know, the dreams.”, she responds.  
“Long day ahead of us. We better get a move on.”  
“Soon. Gimme a little longer, okay?”, she’s always hesitant with her emotions, always just that little on edge and aware of her surroundings but right here, right now, she feels so safe and warm and loved that she lets go of the fear and trepidation. She lets go and just enjoys, gives as much as she takes.  
She’s beautiful in the morning – hair a frizzy mess, wrinkles from the pillow on her cheek, the circles under her eyes a brutal purple. He loves her like this, loves her any second, really, but just that much more when she’s not hiding under done hair and concealer, when he gets to see her flaws and gets to be unapologetically in love with her. There’s something magical about waking up next to her.  
He knows real magic and it’s never as pure, pales in comparison with her.  
She’s the real deal.  
Tulip looks up to him. There’s something in her eyes – mischief. Then she quickly moves out of his arms. She puts her thighs on each side of his body and pins him to the bed, puts her lips on his and suddenly he’s wide awake and kissing her back.  
His hands creep under her loose shirt, grabbing at her shoulder blades. Tulip sighs into the kiss and starts running her fingers through his hair.  
He hurriedly pulls her shirt over her head and then they’re kissing again.  
His shirt is next. Then she pulls down his pants and starts rutting against him.  
She needs him now, doesn’t care that they have to get up or that Cassidy is waiting for them.  
Jesse wants something else this morning – still too in love to be as harsh as she needs it right now. He’s just getting more and more frantic, gliding up and down her body until she finally complies and pulls her panties down, too.  
They fit together like puzzle pieces, have done this so many times that there are no surprises anymore. They know each other inside and outside and have no pride to hold over each other. They just know each other so well it’s not a game anymore, it’s not pure fucking or screwing or whatever else one might call it.  
What they’re doing – it’s love. It’s the most intimate expression of each other’s feelings that they could indulge in.  
Yes, they could be rough with each other, but even their rougher moments had something so gentle and raw about them.  
They lie together in an embrace after, still slightly out of breath and chests moving up and down a little too fast, sweat gleaming on their bodies.  
There’s frantic knocking at their bedroom door and it pulls them out of their embrace. It’s Cassidy. They quickly pull on some clothes and sit up in bed.  
“The bunch o’ yer better get up now”, he drawls, Irish accent encasing every word gently.  
“We’re up!”, Tulip yells back, her exasperated tone making Jesse smirk.  
“Ye’d better be dressed, too, because I’m coming in and I don’t wanna see anyone’s privates this early in the mornin’”, Cassidy replies. Jesse’s smile gets a little bigger, but Tulip’s eyes bore into his and silently judge him for thinking this to be so terribly funny.  
The door flies open with just a little too much gusto, banging against the wall and revealing Cassidy. He looks at them, studies their bedheads and starts smiling slyly, showing off an unnerving number of sharp teeth in the process.  
“Yer havin’ a bit of a cuddle there, luves? Mind if I join?”  
He jumps onto the bed, burying Tulip and Jesse under his frame.  
Jesse loves Cass dearly, felt himself drawn to him from the moment they met. But there’s something about the way he carries himself, something about the nonchalance and the optimism and the terrible fact that he just tends to launch himself on top of him at every opportunity that makes Jesse want to punch him just a little bit each time. Also, the fact that while launching some rather delicate parts of Jesse’s always end up being hurt. Cassidy may seem like a scrawny guy but that also makes him have lots of angles and bones one could be smushed under. And he was surprisingly heavy, too.  
“Move!”, Jesse huffs, out of breath from being knocked both in the upper body and nether regions.  
It takes some shoving and readjusting but, in the end, Cass ends up in the middle with disgruntled Tulip and annoyed Jesse on either side of him.  
They lie in bed, and Jesse’s uptight ideas about masculinity and his own bourgeois concept of sexuality stop him from thinking it, but they’re kind of cuddling. And he’s enjoying himself. He's still getting used to the idea of his heart now encompassing Cass, he's still trying to figure out what it means, to Tulip and him, to not be on their own anymore. It's weird and it feels unnerving to be so uncertain and it can be so very challenging to have to establish new routines. But most of the time it's just nice. It feels like the right thing and while Jesse doesn't always get to be a gut-person, he really wants to listen to it now.  
He doesn't believe in a person making you whole. He doesn't believe that a person is incomplete without someone by their side. Maybe he's just too disenchanted with the world to believe in stuff like that anymore.  
His boyhood, especially the endless time he spent in Angelville, has always made him feel untethered. But having Tulip and now Cass just makes something in his body settle, as if he was on the run from himself and his past and now that he has them, he doesn't want to run anymore.  
He doesn't have to. Whatever happened and whatever will happen now, he knows he's going to be okay.  
Jesse shyly rests his head on Cass' chest, listens to the faint drum of his heartbeat and the calming sound of air finding its way into his lungs. He watches Tulip for a while, her arms slung across Cassidy, her head sticking out from under his armpit. Slowly Jesse unwinds, fills his body with the peace and quiet that surrounds them, and closes his eyes.  
He wakes up to the sound of Cassidy and Tulip bickering and the only thought in his sluggish mind is, “Please, don't let it be about foreskins”.  
“I just don’t think you get to call dibs on MY boyfriend, Cass!”, Tulip almost-yells.  
“Huh?”, Jesse mumbles, confused as to how this conversation was about him.  
“None of ya’ll can call dibs on me, I ain’t one of your playthings.”, he goes on.  
“Now you see, Padre, that’s where yer wrong. I can call dibs on yer and I just did so come ‘ere.”, Cassidy says and promptly covers Jesse with his own body, placing his thighs on each side of Jesse’s upper body. He’s sitting in the middle of his chest. And he’s heavy. And Jesse, who out of the two of them sure looks stronger, cannot escape. He shoots an exasperated look to Tulip, who’s just quietly snickering at the display.  
“A lil help here, maybe?”, Jesse says, still out of breath and still confused as to what is going on.  
“Nah, I’m enjoying this too much.”, she says.  
"What were yall talking about, anyway?", Jesse presses out, the pressure in his chest making it hard to talk.  
"Yer handsome face and which o' us gets to smooch you first.", Cassidy shoots back, highly amused and wiggling a little on top of Jesse.  
"And I don't have a say in that?", Jesse shoots back, annoyance in his voice apparent.  
"Nah", Tulip and Cassidy exclaim in unison.  
“So ya’ll are just gonna leave me hanging here?”, Jesse asks. He’d really like to know what they were bickering about.  
“Don’t be playin’ daft, Jess, we were just discussing who’d get to wake yer up, sleeping Beauty.”, Cassidy says.  
“It’s almost noon and however nice this is, I’d really like to have some food in me”, Tulip adds. As if on cue, her stomach starts making little noises.  
Jesse knows Tulip, and she isn’t fun when she’s hungry. Cassidy had learned that lesson, too, so they get up and reassemble in the kitchen.  
They get started on breakfast.  
Cassidy stands next to Tulip, stirring his pot of blood on the stove, while she’s spreading jam on toast.  
Jesse is faced the other way, he’s filling the coffee machine with beans and water.  
There isn’t much talking involved as they maneuver around the small space.  
Soon enough they’re sitting around the rickety little table, passing salt and milk and sugar around.  
Tulip feels herself falling in love with this little household they had created here. Sure, the guys got on her nerves plenty with their little pissing contests, but she knew they love each other dearly anyway. She thinks that’s just the kind of friendship they have – and to be honest she can’t imagine them treating each other any other way. Compliments and courteous behavior were just not them. It wouldn’t feel honest.  
“So, what’s the plan for today?”, Tulip asks.  
At first no one replies, they’re far too busy chomping down on their food. When Jesse finally guzzles down his piece of toast he looks up and answers.  
“Well, there’s really not much to do today except for research and I doubt that’ll take up all day. Maybe we’ll head out to some bars later, ask around if anyone has any more clues for us or somethin’.”  
“Can we just skip all the work for once an’ just relax?”, Cassidy asks. He’d gotten tired of all the legwork included in their search for God.  
“What do you wanna do instead?”  
“I don’ know, maybe go out an’ just enjoy each other’s company?”  
“Can’t we do that while also doin’ some work?”, Jesse replies. Cassidy lets out a deep sigh, purses his lips, clearly displeased, and looks at Tulip.  
“Can you stop bein’ a Preacher and just be Jesse again? Cass and I are tired and I’m sure you’re, too, so let’s just do something for the sake of doing it, without any higher purpose, okay?”, Tulip takes over for Cassidy.  
Overwhelmed by their words Jesse agrees. He can see that the search for God has taken their toll on all of them. Finding someone that doesn’t want to be found is seriously exhausting.  
"So what do y'all wanna do?", he asks.  
"Well, I wanna take a nap.", Cassidy says. Looking at him a little bit closer Jesse can see the dark circles beneath his eyes. Sometimes Jesse forgets that he gets tired, too, but it's evident. Jesse guesses Cassidy didn't just burst into their room this morning for shits and giggles.  
"And after the nap?", Jesse keeps prodding.  
"I don' know, Padre, how about we just see where the nap takes us"  
"You okay with this?", Jesse asks Tulip. She nods and yawns - maybe he's been too rough on them lately, making them get up too early and working too hard. He's just so focused on his goal and wants to reach it as fast as possible. Maybe he should take a step back from it every now and again and listen to his friends.  
They’re sheathed by silence for the rest of the breakfast. It’s not exactly awkward but there’s something in the air that makes sitting at the little table kind of uncomfortable. Or maybe Jesse just feels a little insecure after having his friends tell him off.  
Jesse and Tulip get up from the table and decide to take a shower.  
They're pressed together tightly in the small space, Jesse's broad shoulders taking up most of the space.  
The water is hot, and steam is rising from their bodies.  
They don't touch, just respectively rinse off the sweat left over from their morning activities.  
As Jesse turns off the water, Cassidy enters the bathroom, shirtless and scratching at the giant magpie covering his chest. It doesn't bother Jesse anymore, him being here while they're so intimate and naked. Jesse doesn't feel like Cassidy is an intruder anymore.  
The first time he did this, just wandered in on either Jesse or Tulip in any state of undress, Jesse recoiled and hid their nakedness behind whatever he could find. But nowadays it's just a part of their friendship, which is definitely still what Jesse would call it if asked about it.  
He's having a hard time defining their relationship, it seems easiest to just call it friendship and not look too closely at the indicators that say this is definitely more.  
They haven't had sex, haven't even kissed (more by Jesse's design than by Cassidy's), but they've been more and more physical with each other. It was slow at first, shy fumbling and 'accidental' touches, however much Jesse allowed until he bolted.  
But there's been cuddling, even without Tulip as a buffer between them. And Cassidy is sure that they're headed somewhere even more physical. He just has to be patient with Jesse, take it one step at a time.  
Jesse isn't homophobic, not as long as it concerns everyone but himself. He loves his daddy, still wishes he makes him proud, but Preacher Custer did have some rather small-town Christian ideas about sexuality and men lying with other men. And Gran'ma beat even worse ideas into Jesse's brain.  
He's been trying hard to unlearn these things, but it's been a slow process.  
Jesse and Tulip get out of the shower and greet Cassidy, who is far too busy brushing his teeth to answer. Suds are spilling out of his mouth into his stubble and make him look like a rabid dog. Jesse giggles at the mental image, would never let Cass know though, because any comparison with an animal, especially a rabid one, was sure to make Cassidy angry.  
Tulip stands next to Cass in front of the mirror and coils her hair. Jesse stands behind her, using their height difference to also sneak into the mirror’s view and brush his teeth.  
It's awfully domestic.  
Once they’re done they make their way into the master bedroom, regroup on the bed and tuck themselves under the covers. This time Jesse is in the middle, enjoying the attention he gets from his two favorite people. Cassidy starts snoring into his left ear while Tulip starts softly talking into his right about shared memories and odd jobs and Walter and Annville and everything in between.  
They spend hours in bed waiting for Cassidy to wake up. When he does stir from his dreams they discuss what to do next and no one really has any suggestions, so they just wander the streets for a while.  
It’s nice, walking without any real purpose.  
They come back to the house once the sun has already set and start preparing dinner. They feel so light and easy and fun, giggling at each other’s stupid jokes and shoving each other every which way.  
Jesse thinks this is what they’ve been missing for the past weeks. They haven’t really stopped to enjoy each other’s time like that in far too long.  
He vows to pay more attention to things like that now, vows to not treat them as inventory but as friends.  
The world could end right there and then, and he wouldn’t mind just because he’s here with them and that’s all he could ever really ask for.  
“’Til the end of the world, right?”, he asks into the small space filled with so much warmth.  
“Of course.”, Tulip says, looking at him with a fondness that makes his cheeks burn and hair stand up on his arms.  
“Of course.”, Cassidy says, smiling without showing any teeth.  
They look at each other for a moment, silent and reverent and so happy that something deep inside them aches.  
Of course.


End file.
